


Kulpon

by blua and oro (vehlr)



Series: Blue & Gold Offcuts [3]
Category: Blue Beetle (Comics), Booster Gold (Comics), DCU (Comics), Justice League International (Comics)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 17:42:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,157
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2159424
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/vehlr/pseuds/blua%20and%20oro
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(fault) - Set before Ted's passing. Ralph has a question for Booster Gold about his beloved Sue's death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kulpon

Ralph finds his target long after the sun has set. As he perches on the rooftop, ears pinned back, he watches the fight between hero and villain in the alleyway below. That is hardly surprising – most of their friends this evening were working out their grief on unsuspecting criminals. It was a tough time to be a crook in this city. The rather surprising part is that Booster Gold is losing.

The would-be mugger is a dab hand, but he relies heavily on the threat of his pen-knife, and the supposed hero has only her wits to defend herself with – and a wealth of experience dealing with idiots like this. Usually Ralph would expect this to be a straight win for the time-traveller, but the mugger has landed almost every punch, kick and trip. He is not especially fast, not particularly heavy or strong, and yet it is clear that he has the heat of victory lapping at his every touch. It was a completely bewildering series of events. Michelle Carter is getting the crap kicked out of her! By a thug! Almost as if –

She fails to block another easy blow, going down hard, and Ralph realises the end of that sentence.

As if Booster was _trying_ to lose.

Luckily for her – and Ralph’s cover – the mugger is struck by the full force of a very familiar gun – the Blue Beetle’s own design as he rappels down from the trusty Bug to dispatch the criminal. Before his feet touch the ground, the assailant has hightailed it out of the alleyway – and Ted Kord turns his attention to the girl curling up on the floor.

“What the hell is _wrong_ with you?” Even from this distance, Ralph can see the anger in Ted’s face. Michelle faces away from him as she wobbles to her feet, hair hanging limp as she supports her stomach.

“Get lost.” The words are muttered in a tone that Ted is clearly not used to hearing directed at him, and his anger cools to concern as he reaches out to her – only to be pushed back. “GET OFF ME!”

“’Chelle, come on, it’s me. It’s alright, okay?”

“It’s not alright!” she snaps, turning further from him – and now Ralph sees her face in profile, recognises that look. She is haunted. “ _Nothing_ is alright, Beetle.”

“You know, I had guessed that from the fracas down here.” Concern gives way to sarcasm, scathing and protective and Ted wears it like a comfy sweater. Their dynamic, though wounded by the loss of their friend, still had the same patter.

“Just leave me alone. I don’t need supervision, I can –“

“I swear to God if you say ‘take care of myself’ I’ll shoot you.”

“I can handle this,” she growls, swaying slightly in the cold evening air. “Damn near the only thing I’m good at right now. I can take a hit.”

“Clearly.” The Blue Beetle folds his arms. “You’re good at a lot of things, so don’t feed me that line. Is this about more than Sue?”

“This is all about Sue. I should have been able to stop this from happening. I’m a time-traveller from the future, and I can’t even…” Ralph leans in, cannot help but lean in as Booster takes a deep breath, her anger turning from Ted to herself. “I should _know_ about it, and I didn’t, and now she’s gone and it’s my fault. And soon, Ralph is going to come to me and ask if I knew – if I could have stopped all this. And do you know what? I don’t know. I just don’t know, because when I was looking at this century it didn’t even fucking _occur_ to me to save the lives of the people who would be around me – all I wanted was to make money and look good.” She laughs, but it is forced and comes out choked. “I didn’t even _consider_ that I might make friends with anyone less ‘famous’ than Superman, that I might find a home and a _family_ here, and that they might – they might not –“

The words peter out in the darkness as she shakes her head, almost in disbelief. But Ralph can grasp that thread and follow it - after all, everything she claimed to be was built on the conviction that she was invincible and immutable, and a death proved her completely wrong.

“Could you fix it?” Ted’s words are quiet, careful, and surprise Ralph slightly. “Could you go back and change it?”

“I went to Rip, but he stopped me before I’d even asked. Established events, fixed points – some things happen because they were always meant to happen. His usual bullshit.” Ralph bristles at the idea that his wife was simply _meant_ to die. Apparently Michelle shared his bile. “Just like him to ask me for help when it suits him, but to turn me away when something actually matters.”

Ted considers this for a long moment, before pulling off his goggles and lowering his hood. “I hate to be the worst man on the planet right now, but… maybe he’s right. Maybe you _can’t_ go back and save her, and maybe… maybe that’s how it has to be.” At Michelle’s stony glare, he backtracks. “I’m not saying I like it, Booster! But sometimes, I don’t know, death is an unavoidable part of living, especially in _our_ lives. If I thought we had a chance of beating Rip’s security I’d say let’s go, right now, and get our Sue back. But we can’t. Not with you like this, getting yourself beat up because you can’t hurt yourself enough.”

“I should have known. I should have _cared_ enough to know.”

“So go back to your time and find a history book and find out. But it doesn’t stop it from being a fact on paper, and it doesn’t stop it from being real right now. She’s… she’s gone, and you can’t… ‘Chelle, you can’t blame yourself, okay? You can’t. So just… stop it, and come home.”

“Ted –“

But Ted’s patience is clearly at breaking point. “No, _enough_. Come home with me, and we’ll grieve and eat ice cream and cry like normal people. Stop trying to get yourself hurt, because that’s not helping anyone. Sue would be real annoyed with you, you know. She’d get that look on her face that meant business.” And Ralph is struck by the image of his wife’s disapproval, and knows exactly what the Blue Beetle means.

Booster Gold knows it too, finally allowing herself to crumple. “She always has… _had_ … oh god, Ted, she really was amazing, wasn’t she?”

“Yeah and she always will be. Good ol’ Sue.”

He looks lost – they both do, thinks Ralph. Sue would have known what to do. Sue would have kept them in line. But as Michelle finally assents to being helped into the Bug, Ralph can only think of how utterly useless he is without her.


End file.
